The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has reiterated its commitment to ensuring effective stewardship of the nation’s hydrocarbon resources to guarantee energy security and drive wealth creation in Nigeria.
The group managing director of the corporation, Mallam Mele Kyari, gave the assurance when he delivered the keynote address on the theme ‘Vision and priorities for Nigeria’s energy transformation’ at the 2021 Nigeria Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition (NOG 2021) in Abuja.
He stated that with a teeming youth and a developing economy, Nigeria needed the right policies to unlock its huge economic potential, stressing that NNPC was working towards bridging the energy gap to multiply wealth for its varied stakeholders.
“We see a nation that must integrate by developing midstream and downstream infrastructure as the intersection and bridge to value. We see a nation in need of right policy framework to attract new investment while encouraging existing players,” Mallam Kyari averred.
He said that the corporation had completed the Escravos Lagos Pipeline System (ELPS) Phase II project, thereby expanding the gas supply channel for domestic gas utilization, adding it had also kick-started the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline project, while the Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben gas pipeline (OB3) project was billed for completion soon.
The GMD maintained that the corporation’s vision was to emplace the critical backbone infrastructure, create liquidity and provide the necessary linkage to markets.
He noted that NNPC and its partners were harnessing and exploiting the nation’s huge gas potentials one of which is the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Train 7 project whose ground-breaking ceremony was performed recently by the president.
According to him, the NLNG Train 7 is a flagship project expected to increase the nation’s LNG production capacity by 35 per cent and seal Nigeria’s position as one of the top LNG nations in the world, adding Nigeria was in the process of also transforming into an LNG-consuming country while at the same time deepening domestic utilization of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).
A statement by the NNPC group general manager, group public affairs division, Dr. Kennie Obateru, said while speaking on the refineries, Kyari said the programme for the rehabilitation and upgrading of the existing refineries was on course, adding while work had already started on the Port Harcourt Refinery Company (PHRC), it would soon start on the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited (WRPC) and the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited (KRPC).
“The NNPC plans to take 20 per cent equity in the Dangote Refinery and acquire stakes in other private modular and condensate refineries in the country. Our priority is to meet our local fuel demand because that is the right way to go thereby making Nigeria to become the hub of petroleum products supply to other African countries in the years ahead,” Mallam Kyari informed.
He said NNPC, as a national oil company, had made strategic decisions that would enable the country to be energy sufficient through its partnerships and several business portfolios that would add value to the nation.
The NNPC helmsman said the recent passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) by the National Assembly was a clear example of how collaboration across political lines could deliver reforms, assuring that the corporation would sustain engagement with partners to co-create solutions for unique challenges and provide the platform for effective policy engagement.
